Paul Helfritzsch

In this essay, I argue for a realistic understanding of phenomenology, which I claim is the only 0interpretation that allows for a solution to the problem of how what we perceive as an impression of the world is capable of being the foundation of our knowledge. The central point of the argument is the fact that we are conscious of the world and that this intentionality is a primary connection between subject and world. This connection may fall short of guaranteeing an infallible way of acquiring knowledge, but the possibility of failure entails the possibility of success, and thus the reality of the things that are perceived, is guaranteed. I consider the possibility of failing in the effort to acquire knowledge as the positive quality of the deficit of knowledge. This possibility in itself is, however, not the only thing one can claim about knowledge from a phenomenological perspective: The main thesis of this essay is that the connection with thworld is based on the fact that perception and action are the fields of human behaviour in which the failure or success of the acquisition of knowledge is shown. mehr